The story anchoring this week’s coverage on Via Meadia has been Secretary Clinton’s trip to China. We previewed the trip early in the week, situating it in the context of America’s recent strategic moves in the region. And as the Chen Guangcheng story began to unfold, we did our best to decode what had just happened—an […]

[Via Meadia‘s man in Istanbul provides the blog with updates from Turkish and regional newspapers.]A firestorm of controversy erupted this week regarding Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s pronouncement in parliament on April 26 that “we will continue to be the owners, pioneers and servants of the new Middle East,” with journalists across ideological lines debating whether this confirmed longstanding […]

It’s been a couple of weeks since we looked at the electoral situation, and since the middle of April, Governor Romney has continued to gain, slowly, on President Obama in the national polls as measured by the RCP “poll of polls.” The slight national swing to Romney was not enough to flip any more states […]

 This photo of a fleet of Ferraris purportedly fleeing to the Swiss border captures the feeling of many rich French people today. The socialist candidate François Hollande has defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy — the first time a socialist has been elected President of France the Mitterand years.This is a good night to keep tabs on […]

The bursting of the housing bubble caused huge financial distress for people all over the United States, and the destruction continues. Millions of people still have negative equity, others have walked away from their homes, and millions of others are coming to terms with houses worth much less than they thought.Over at the Wall Street […]

One of the great tragedies of American life is that our republic was founded and for many years led by white males, many of whom were insufficiently trained and qualified for the offices they held. Not a single one of the so-called “Founding Fathers” held a Ph.D. in political science from a reputable university. Alexander […]

Is cap and trade a crock?Maverick environmentalists Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus make that claim in a piece that appears at the invaluable NewGeography.com. They point out that CO2 emissions in the US have been in decline since 2005, and that while the recession has ‘helped’, emissions are now projected to decline through the rest […]

It is just like the old times again. “A decision to use destructive force preemptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russia’s Chief of Military General Staff Nikolai Makarov said late last week, warning of possible attacks on NATO installations in eastern and central Europe if NATO proceeds with a planned anti-missile shield.NATO says the shield […]

This is the advice of AI board member (and therefore, full disclosure, WRM colleague) in the New York Times. Cowen points out that the economic slowdown in India will have more effect on the well being of more people than anything that happens in Europe. Hundreds of millions of people in India and in nearby […]

Few readers will be surprised to learn that decades of incompetence and entrenched corruption in Detroit’s government have not only helped wreck the city; firms linked to former Democratic mayor Kwame Kilpatrick also looted the pension fund.The latest scandal, which leaves even hardened observers of the abysmal Democratic machine that has run the city into […]